• 1789: The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano
• 1845: Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave
• 1847: Narrative of William W. Brown, a Fugitive Slave
• 1851: Narrative of the Life of Henry Box Brown, Written by Himself
• 1855: My Bondage and My Freedom
• 1861: Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl
• 1881: Life and Times of Frederick Douglass
• 1901: Up from Slavery
• 1940: The Big Sea
• 1942: Dust Tracks on a Road
• 1945: Black Boy
• 1965: The Autobiography of Malcolm X
• 1965: Manchild in the Promised Land
• 1966: Revolutionary Suicide
• 1968: Coming of Age in Mississippi
• 1968: Soul on Ice
• 1969: I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
• 1974: Angela Davis: An Autobiography
• 1987: Assata: An Autobiography
• 1994: Colored People: A Memoir
• 1995: Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance
• 1995: The Color of Water
• 1996: Bone Black: Memories of Girlhood
• 2006: The Audacity of Hope
• 2008: The Beautiful Struggle
• 2010: Decoded
• 2010: Extraordinary, Ordinary People: A Memoir of Family
• 2011: No Higher Honor: A Memoir of My Years in Washington